


Planned for the Worst (This is the Worst)

by sporktato



Series: FAHC Whumptober [2]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Betrayal, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, FAHC, Fake AH Crew, Female Jack Pattillo, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Non-Graphic Violence, Pick who dies, Self-Sacrifice, Whump, Whumptober 2020, all relationships either platonic or romantic up to the reader, but not really it's really not it's so much worse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2020-10-05
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:02:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,894
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26840335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sporktato/pseuds/sporktato
Summary: With a gun to his head, Geoff is forced to choose which one of the crew must die. Unknown to the Lads, the Gents had already planned for this. It doesn't make choosing any easier.Whumptober 2020 Day 2: Pick Who Dies
Relationships: Gavin Free/Michael Jones, Jack Pattillo/Geoff Ramsey, Jeremy Dooley/Ryan Haywood
Series: FAHC Whumptober [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1957810
Kudos: 11





	Planned for the Worst (This is the Worst)

Geoff knew it was unquestionably his fault his crew was in the position they were now, and he hated himself for it. Both Jack and Gavin had asked for a little more info, a little more planning, before running headfirst into Geoff’s newest plan, and he hadn’t listened to them. At the time it seemed unnecessary - they were the fucking Fakes, masters of the city and of adapting plans on the fly, nothing should have stopped them. But here the six of them were, all tied up in what looked like a garage but really could have been anything, at the hands of this asshole of a man looking fancy in an all black suit. Geoff had been separate from the rest when he got jumped, but Michael’s broken glasses and Jack’s smudged lipstick made it clear not all of them went down as easy as Geoff had, and for that at least he was glad. 

What he hadn’t been glad for was not recognizing the man who had so flawlessly snatched them all up in the middle of a fucking job. Geoff knew everyone of importance in the city, and those he didn’t Gavin definitely did, but the lad had seemed just as confused as him. Geoff’s first assumption then was a new player. New players were nothing for the Fakes to worry about, between Geoff and Gavin they were usually talked circles around and left a mess once Ryan got to them, so talk had begun, rapid fire between Geoff and Gavin, trying to get the prick’s defences down. When the man had delivered an indifferent backhand to Gavin hard enough to cause him to spit blood on the cement it was obvious this man wasn’t a new player. Maybe new to Los Santos, but definitely not to the game. 

Geoff tried to form a gameplan as Michael started swearing and Gavin offered a bloody grin. Never, ever, even before Geoff and Jack got their shit in order, had the entire lot of them been captured at the same time. They planned for that. Geoff and Gavin were usually in the safest but separate spots; Jeremy’s ability to scale anything made him impossible to get a grip on, and Ryan, was, well, the Vagabond, not exactly someone one decides to grab for fun. The man in the suit had planned for this, was much more prepared for this situation than Geoff was, and it made Geoff’s skin crawl. He was the goddamn Kingpin, with Mogar and the Vagabond by his sides, along with the Golden Boy in his ear and the best pilot and thief America had to offer. Geoff goddamn Ramsay was not someone to be caught off guard, and now he was floundering. 

He picked through his brain at rapid speeds for anything to get his family the fuck out of here while Suit went off about wanting Los Santos (so he was new to the city) but the Fakes stood in the way so how exactly was he to deal with that? Geoff had heard a variation of the same speech a million times and tuned him out for the most part. The five around him were oddly quiet, maybe as thrown off their games as Geoff, or not wanting a smile to match Gavin’s. 

Geoff was snapped out of his own head by the feel of a pistol pressed against his temple. Jack flinched out of the corner of his eye. Geoff forced his poker face, looking up to the man above him.

“You weren’t listening.” Suit states, staring down coldly. Something about his gaze reminds Geoff of the Vagabond - not Ryan - and Geoff swallows, it taking until now for the entire situation to sink in.

He forces an angry smile. “Sorry, got bored. Nothing I haven’t heard before, ya know? But please go on about how you’re gonna get rid of us.” Definitely not a smart thing to say to the man with a gun against your head and your family tied up, but sue him, if Geoff was to die he’d die as the Kingpin of the Fakes, trying to get his crew out of trouble he got them into. Suit crouched beside him, gun still to his head. For a moment no one spoke.

“I think,” Suit began, “you will want to hear this part, Mr. Kingpin.” Geoff slowly met the man’s eyes again, he could see his crew watching the exchange anxiously. “As I was saying, Kingpin, I was going to kill all six of you, seeing as I already have you all, but I don't think that would work. I highly doubt you six are all there is to the Fakes.” 

Geoff resisted the urge to snort. Of course the Fakes was larger, there was the five in B Team, as well as the innumerable connections the crew had. If Suit thought he could kill the six of them, and not have them immediately replaced by B Team he was so wrong. Apparently some part of his thoughts bled through to his face.

“No.” Suit continued. “That’s what I thought. I don’t wish to kill one layer of you just to immediately deal with another, I have much better things to do with my time.” At this Jeremy snorted on the other side of Geoff but luckily was ignored. “Instead, Mr. Kingpin, I thought it would be much more effective to only kill one of you. I’ve heard the relationships between the six of you go just beyond crewmates.” 

He paused for the message to sink in. And sink in it did. Jack and Jeremy on either side of Geoff sucked in near identical breaths. Michael had flinched back like he’d been hit, his head bumping off the wall behind him. Only Gavin and Ryan didn’t outwardly react. Geoff, though, he felt his heart stop. Suit was right obviously, the people in this room weren’t just crewmembers Geoff and Jack had wrangled together, they were family. The only family Geoff had ever had. If all six of them died, Geoff would see them in Hell where Michael would yell and Gavin would complain and Jeremy would laugh. To kill one of them, and only one, it would be like having an eye gouged out. It would be so much worse than that. Geoff’s throat was like cement as he swallowed bile down. He returned his gaze to meet Suit’s, unsure when he had looked away.

“What do you  _ want _ ?” Geoff hissed out, flexing against the handcuffs keeping him against the wall.

Suit’s face grew dark as he grinned widely. Geoff’s heart stuttered at the emotion on the man’s face. “I’m so glad you asked. I want you, Mr. Kingpin, to choose which one of them I kill.”

Geoff’s face, heart, and stomach dropped in one fell swoop. Around the room, five faces reflected the exact feeling back at him. Staring this monster in the eye as he told Geoff to kill someone he loved, he remembered a conversation he had with Jack and Ryan over a year ago, a conversation that made his stomach drop in the same way.

-

Jack and Ryan had pulled Geoff into his own office not half an hour after the lads headed for the pub. Jack had pushed him into his seat, and her and Ryan sat across him, wearing matching unreadable expressions. He had made a confused noise as the two shared a glance. Jack had cleared her throat before starting.

“Ryan and I have been talking,” that sentence was already enough to worry Geoff - the few times the other gents teamed up never ended well for the opposing side, which was currently Geoff. “And we need to talk about if you ever have to, well-” here she had faltered, glancing to Ryan, who continued for her in a much blunter way.

“If you’re ever forced to kill a crewmember, it will be one of us.” This was the first time Geoff felt his entire body tumble to his toes. He had looked, dumbfounded, to Jack for disagreement. Ryan didn’t always fully get jokes, and this, this had to be a joke. But Jack had not disagreed, in fact she had nodded with Ryan. Both waited for his delayed reaction.

“Wh,,, What?” Geoff had given an anxious chuckle, still trying to make sense of their words. “That’s,, that’s not funny Ryan don’t,, don’t say shit like that.”

Jack had pursed her lips, leaning onto the desk. “It’s not meant to be funny, Geoff. We’ve ignored it for too long-”

“Ignored what?” Geoff had shot to his feet, voice cracking as he started pacing behind his desk. “Ignored fucking,, fucking murder? Of one of us? Of, of you two?”

“Geoffrey.” Jack had glared at him, slowing his pacing to awkwardly standing behind his chair. “We’re not infallible. We like to think we are, but we aren’t. Ryan’s been in situations where, well, a choice was forced onto the leader of the group. We need a plan for that. We need to know what you’ll do.”

Geoff had stood there, looking between Jack, intense but anxious, staring him down determinedly, and Ryan, nearly sunk into his chair, picking at his nails but still holding Geoff’s gaze. “No.” Geoff had stated. “No way. No one will - we’ll never be in that position.”

“Until we are.” Ryan had spoken so quietly. “It happens. It has happened. We don’t want it to, but it might happen to us.” 

Geoff had shook his head as Jack continued for Ryan. “Ryan and I have talked. If the six of us are ever in that situation, you pick one of us, either Ryan or I. Please, Geoff. You can’t separate Gavin and Michael, and Jeremy, well.” She had glanced sideways to Ryan, who’s fists and jaw tightened as he glared just right of Geoff’s head. The message had been clear.

Geoff had fallen back into his chair, tugging his fingers through his hair. “I can’t-”

“We’re not asking, Geoff.” Ryan had startled Geoff to look at him. Never had Ryan told Geoff to do something, not to do the dishes or deal with drunk lads, nothing had ever been anything more than a question.

“You mean this.” Geoff had realized finally. Ryan had nodded, staring him down. “Both of you.” This was directed to Jack, his lovely Jack.

She reached across the desk to grab Geoff’s hand, pressing her unmade lips to his knuckles. “I don’t want to die, Geoff.” She had gripped his hand so hard, eyes misting over. “But if I must, it will be for you.”

Geoff’s throat had closed up, choking his voice as he looked between his partner and his best friend, both so determined. He had nodded slowly. He had started crying. One of them had pulled him into a hug, Ryan, Geoff realized as he cried. Both of them had held onto him until the tears had dried up.

When the lads had returned, they were none the wiser to the conversation that had taken place.

-

“Tick tock, Mr. Kingpin.” Suit told him, almost politely, still smiling wide. Geoff turned away from him, looking around the room. The lads, he couldn’t focus on, refused to worry about them. His eyes flitted between Ryan and Jack. Ryan, features hidden behind the smeared face paint but whole body tense and blue eyes desperately trying to tell Geoff something. Jack, right beside Geoff, misty eyed and biting her lip, fists clenched in the cuffs behind her back. Jack, the only reason Geoff was where he was. Jack who he loved more than anyone. Geoff looked back to Ryan, Ryan who could read any of them at their best, which Geoff certainly was not at. Ryan smiled at him, a tight lipped but genuine thing, and offered an encouraging nod. Geoff was the worst person in the universe.

“Vagabond.” Geoff stated, the word coming out stronger than he felt. Both Ryan and Jack slumped back, the tension running out of them both. A tear ran down Jack’s cheek. Michael and Gavin gaped at him in the silence.

“No…” Jeremy breathed the word into the silent room without quite realizing it. Looking at him, eyes wide and lips parted, evidently confused and hurt, Geoff had never felt worse in his life. How he expected Jeremy to live without his partner when he himself refused to do the same, Geoff didn’t know.

“No?” Suit had turned to Jeremy, the first time his attention was on someone other than Geoff.

“No!” Jeremy spat out desperately, staring Suit down. “You can’t!” Already he was pulling at his cuffs. Suit raised an eyebrow. Geoff cursed Jeremy. Cursed Ryan and himself and Jack and mostly Suit.

“Last I checked-” Geoff spoke up before Jeremy could make things worse (Worse, God, how could it be worse than killing his best friend?) forcing all the venom he had towards Suit into his voice, “I was Kingpin, not Rimmy Tim.” Geoff glared at Jeremy, trying so fucking hard to convey through his eyes to please please don’t fight this Jeremy, don’t fight him. Jeremy stared at him. Stared at him with confusion and anger and hurt and more than anything betrayal. He kept quiet, though whether that was because he got the message or was in the process of getting his heart shattered, Geoff didn’t know.

Suit hummed. “Loyal, I see.” He returned his gaze to Geoff. “And why, may I ask, Vagabond? From what I’ve heard he’s your most useful dog.”

Why kill a friend? Suit said it himself, loyalty. Geoff had promised, hadn’t he? But he couldn’t say that.

Ryan laughed, a sharp thing that would have most cops ducking. Suit turned to Ryan, no, to Vagabond. “He said me because he caught on.” He shrugged as best he could with his hands cuffed behind him.

“Caught on to what, exactly?” Suit stood now, stepping slightly away from Geoff, seemingly intrigued with whatever lies Ryan was going to spin about Geoff right in front of him.

“I was gonna kill him.” Vagabond states, staring Suit in the eyes. Someone makes a strangled sound to Geoff’s left, he doesn’t know who. He’s focused on Ryan, the man who’s selling his own death, and making himself irredeemable to the crew in the process. It’s fascinating in the same way a car crash is. “Fucking Kingpin, right? So he thinks he owns the entire fucking city. There isn’t anything he can do that I can’t do better. Worst thing I ever did was join this fucking crew, come for the cash, forced into staying and being his fucking dog. Only wish I had been smarter about it.” 

Suit smiles, a wide unnerving thing. Gavin and Michael are both halfway to angry, but Jeremy is shaking his head with tears in his eyes like he knows as well as the gents it’s all a big fucking lie. Of course he would, he knows Ryan better than most of them, maybe better than Geoff. Ryan stares at Geoff and there’s so many things they both try to tell the other in those seconds that it all gets lost aside from ‘I’m sorry’.

“A coup, hmm?” Suit asks. “Well I’m almost tempted to keep you alive, I can’t say that was the reason I was expecting. But that would make you competition, and I still think this could be so much fun.”

Without warning he pistol whips Ryan, managing to knock him out in a single blow. While the five of them yell numerous things, Suit uncuffs Ryan and manages to drag his body out the door. Jeremy’s pleas are the last to die out, and then they sit there in stunned silence, just the five of them. 

Jack lets out a sob, something animalistic Geoff had never heard, and then keeps crying, head tucked behind her folded up legs. She’ll blame herself for this until she dies, same as Geoff. Jeremy is crying too, but he’s still angry, will keep being angry. His wrists are raw and bleeding and Geoff knows his heart mirrors them. “He’s lying!” He yells between clenched teeth. “He wouldn’t!”

“He said it himself!” Michael argues back from across the room. There’s tears running down his face too, and he too is angry. “It’s Ryan! When has he ever lied in his life?!”

“He doesn’t actually think that of us, does he?” Gavin asks quietly, probably to Geoff. “That doesn’t… that doesn’t fit.”

“Of course not!” Jeremy answers. “I, I know Rye. He didn’t - he wouldn’t-”

They continue like this, and Geoff does nothing to intervene, even though he knows the truth. He can’t do anything, he can’t even cry right now. All he can do is stare at the cuffs on the wall where Ryan had been.

After what feels like minutes but is probably much longer the door opens again. Jack sucks her sobbing back in forcefully, and the lads all snap their mouths closed. Suit stares at them, an unreadable expression on his face. He tosses something into the room - Geoff’s first thought is a grenade - but it lands softly at Geoff’s feet. It takes a moment to process what exactly Geoff is looking at, but when he does he nearly throws up. Ryan’s cut off ponytail is on the ground. They all know what that means.

**Author's Note:**

> Day 2 woo hoo!! This shit fuckin Hurty to write oh lawd I was not meant to create whump. Hopefully I will be able to create more than Two of these, we'll fuckin see I'm already like 3 days behind let me rest im a student


End file.
